Thanks to a post by my friend, Amanda, author of the fantastically creative blog Tastee Pudding, I learned about the WordCount 2010 blogathon. Started by Michelle Rafter, this year’s edition is a commitment by 111 bloggers to write every day for the month of May. The blogs span a wide variety of subjects, from skincare to gardening to travel to life as a teenager. In a single year, the number of participants has more than doubled.
From Michelle’s site:
“In spring 2008, I was a still a blogging newbie and looking for motivation to post more consistently. I challenged myself to blog every day during the month of May. Since misery loves company, I invited other writers to join me. The WordCount Blogathon was born. Some two dozen of us posted about work, life, love, food, travel, kids and a lot of other things. We wrote a lot, learned a lot, and a good time was had by all.
Flash forward to 2009. Magazines are folding. Newspapers are getting skinnier by the week. Freelancers who once made their living writing for print publications are looking to expand their repertoire to include podcasting, multimedia reporting – and blogging.
So once again, we challenged ourselves to blog every day. We also held a guest post exchange day where we spent one day writing on someone else’s blog, and vice versa. We also tracked our activity on Twitter, using the hashtag #MayBlog2.
We wound things up on June 1 with a Blogathon wrap party, chatting about what worked, what didn’t, what we learned and what we’d do differently next time.”
Michelle’s efforts to increase her own writing motivation, and take others with her, is a cause I support and admire. Have a look at everything that’s cookin’ for the 2010 WordCount Blogathon and discover some kindred writing spirits. 
Christa Avampato 